One credit card company reacted to this yesterday afternoon by
> cancelling my credit card (with no prior notice) while my wife was in
> the middle of a shopping trip. No fraudulent charges had been
> attempted; they just felt it had been "compromised."
> This could be jolly inconvenient for travelers! Are credit cards
> liable to be yanked at any time because of security breaches? Is that
> how the industry is going to start reacting?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Not: They are, and yes it is. Customer incon-
> venience is not a big issue with them when they are threatened with the
> possible loss of a few dollars in fraud. PAT]
Ah, the noose around their own necks! Between loan-shark practices of raising interest rates sharply on little notice, and this new practice of cancelling cards at the drop of a hat, they're quickly losing our confidence. Maybe we *will* learn to live without credit cards.